The Rolling Stones – ‘I Can’t Get No Satisfaction’
  • Writers: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
  • Producer: Andrew Loog Oldham
  • Recorded: 1965, Chess Studio, Chicago, and RCA Studio, Hollywood, California
  • Released: May 27th, 1965
  • Players:
    Mick Jagger — vocals, harmonicas
    Keith Richards — guitars
    Brian Jones — guitars, keyboards
    Bill Wyman — bass
    Charlie Watts — drums, percussion
    Ian Stewart — keyboards
    Jack Nitzsche — keyboards, percussion
    Phil Spector — zoom bass
  • Album: Out Of Our Heads (London, 1965/ABKCO, 1986)
  • Also On:
    Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass) (Decca, 1966)
    Got Live If You Want It! (London, 1966/ABKCO, 1986)
    Hot Rocks 1964-1971 (London, 1972/ABKCO, 1986)
    Rolled Gold: The Very Best Of The Rolling Stones (Decca, 1975)
    Still Life: American Concert 1981 (Rolling Stones, 1982)
    Singles Collection: The London Years (ABKCO, 1989)
    Flashpoint (Rolling Stones, 1991)
    Forty Licks (Virgin, 2002)
  • “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” entered the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart at Number 67. It reached Number One.
  • An earlier single by the Rolling Stones, “The Last Time,” had hit the Billboard Top 10, but “Satisfaction” immediately launched them past Herman’s Hermits, Peter & Gordon, the Animals, Manfred Mann, and Freddie & the Dreamers, and up to the Beatles‘ popularity level.
  • Singer-guitarist Keith Richards came up with the powerful, distinctive guitar sound while fooling with his new Gibson fuzz box late at night at a hotel. He came up with a riff that stuck in his head with such force he had to bang on lead singer Mick Jagger‘s door in the middle of the night. Later, Jagger wrote the lyrics, which, according to the book Rock Of Ages, gave the Stones “their own built-in paradox by musically delivering what the lyrics insisted was unattainable.”
  • Richards has also perpetuated the story that he woke up one night with the riff in his head, recorded it, and then promptly fell back asleep. “There was two minutes of music and a half-hour of me snoring on the tape,” he said.
  • Additionally, Richards has said that Martha & the Vandellas‘ “Dancing In The Street” inspired the music.

FAST FORWARD:

  • Otis Redding did a soul version in 1966, as did new-wave band Devo in 1978.
  • Other artists who have chosen to cover “Satisfaction” include Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Sly & Robbie, Blue Cheer, Samantha Fox, Tom Jones, the Ventures, and Britney Spears.
  • Guitarist Mick Taylor replaced group founder Brian Jones in 1969. Ron Wood then replaced Taylor after his departure in 1974.
  • The Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.
  • Bassist Bill Wyman left the Stones in 1993. His replacement Darryl Jones has worked with the band ever since, but he hasn’t been named an official member.
  • The most recent album from the Stones is A Bigger Bang.
  • The Stones headlined the halftime show for Super Bowl XL (40) at Ford Field in Detroit in February 2006.

The group played two shows at the Beacon Theater in New York City in he fall of 2006, which were filmed by director Martin Scorsese for a Stones tour documentary called Shine A Light, which has already made its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.